Swift action on faulty pipes

The Government has responded to problems relating to faulty pipelines within the residential complex “Les Jardins d’Apolline” by appointing an official to coordinate the rehabilitation of the homes that have been affected by the problems.

Jean Castellini, Minister of Finance and Economy, issued a statement on Thursday evening following a meeting between his department, the Department of Social Affairs and Health, the Department of Infrastructure, Environment and Urban Planning, and representatives of the inhabitants of the building,

“In order to better manage the problems related to the building’s faulty pipelines, and in response to the wishes of the residents, the government has appointed a single interlocutor, Mrs Elodie Boyer, who will coordinate the rehabilitation of the dwellings. To do this, an email address “ddejap@gouv.mc” has been created.

“At the same time, people who have to leave their homes during the construction period will be relocated free of charge during this period, with retroactive effect if rent has already been paid. The State will bear the costs of removal and will facilitate all the necessary steps, in particular with regard to services.

“If a part of the apartment is not habitable but a relocation is not necessary, a 50 percent reduction of the rent will be granted.

“Finally, in the case of a Capital Accumulation Contract, occupants will be exempt from charges during the duration of the work and the payment deadline will be deferred until the end of the work. In case of imperative relocation, the inhabitants will be able, if they wish, to stay in their new apartment.

The Minister said work on the restoration of defective pipelines will begin during the first quarter of 2017 and will last for a maximum of six months with regular information on the quality of drinking water and air inside the building will be provided to residents.

The residential complex, intended for Monegasque nationals, was built between 2009 and 2013, and sits just to the west of Lycée Technique et Hotelier.

A waitress at a bar in Fontvieille had a narrow escape when she took the wheel of her Smart car after drinking with a customer, Monaco’s Criminal Court was told. Four months pregnant at the time, she crashed her car into road signs, zig-zagged across white lines and ended up lying in the road. She had a blood alcohol level of 1.78 g per litre.
The defendant told the court she still had glass from the smashed windscreen in her head, and she added that it was fortunate that she did not kill anyone and she could keep her unborn child.
Pointing out that the car had been driven on the left-hand side of the road for several minutes and had overturned several times, the public prosecutor asked for a sentence of two months suspended and three fines of €45 each.
"As her child is going to be born," Cyrielle Colle said, "it is not medically possible to pronounce a prison sentence, but she has a problem with alcohol."
The defence lawyer added that the defendant’s boyfriend had left her and she had been fired from her job. The court acquiesced.

[caption id="attachment_4460" align="alignleft" width="660"] Guy Laliberté, the founder of One Drop, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve access to safe water[/caption]
The €1 Million Buy-in Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza confirmed its first 35 players this week.
Kicking off on October 13, some of the world’s richest individuals will sit down to play the Big One for One Drop, the charity poker tournament, at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, according to pokernewsreport.com.
The One Drop Extravaganza will likely go down in history as the most expensive tournament series ever. It will certainly be the first to feature a poker tournament with a €1 million buy-in and, with seven other events scheduled (excluding satellites) with buy-ins from €10,000 to €100,000, players attending the Extravaganza are going to have to dig deep into their piggy banks.
Unlike in 2012 and 2014, when the Big One for One Drop formed part of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) schedule, entry to this year’s event is by invitation only. Guy Laliberté, the founder of One Drop, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve access to safe water, said he initiated the change to bring “fun and innovation to charitable giving”. Even the live satellites on the day preceding the €1 million buy-in event are invitation-only – with Laliberté expecting a large number of businessmen, philanthropic, and celebrity recreational players to attend in order to “enjoy the game, the networking opportunities and the incredible VIP experiences”.
The One Drop tournament itself will be played over three days. Day 1 gets underway at 2:00pm (CET) on Friday October 14 with players each having a starting stack of 5 million chips and blinds starting at 6,000/12,000 (ante 1,000). Unlimited re-entries are allowed until the start of Day 2 (Saturday October 15 at noon), and the tournament will conclude on Sunday October 16 – with the winner likely to eclipse the prizes won in 2012 by Antonio Esfandiari ($18,346,673) and in 2014 by Dan Colman ($15,306,668).
In addition to the tournament action, high-stakes cash games will be running eighteen hours a day with limits ranging from €25/€25 up to €1,000/€2,000. The cash games on offer will include the standard fare of NL Hold´em and PL Omaha, with Open-Faced Chinese Poker available for those who like to gamble. Just in case the stakes are not high enough for some players, there will also be a €1 million buy-in cash game on the last day of the event.
Prince Albert has given his backing to the event. In a statement released to the media, His Serene Highness – who has his own charitable foundation to address environmental change – said: “I am pleased that Monaco has been chosen to host the 2016 edition of The Big One for One Drop, one of the most innovative charity events. After only two editions, The Big One for One Drop has raised more than $10 million for water, a cause that I hold particularly dear. I wish an even greater success to the third edition of The Big One,” Prince Albert said.